Dragon and Vampire
by Lord Slayer
Summary: Civil unrest has been stirring within the Monster World ever since the riot begun by Hitomi Ishigami. Now Tsukune is being targeted, and only Moka and a mysterious foreign transfer students can protect him. Pairings: TxM, later KurumuxOC Rated T 4 violenc
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **For all those who have read my previous work; yes, I know, I haven't posted in months, I really should have been doing a Bleach chapter, but I've had this idea in my mind for a while now, and it's been getting more insistent these last few days, so I decided to go ahead and get it done with. I will post chapters for this fic, but fear not, I have not abandoned my Bleach fic. For those more familiar with my Slayers fics, well, I haven't come up with anything new for awhile, so, yeah....*mental note- Make time to watch Slayers some time to try and get ideas* As for the rest of you: HELLO! This is my first Rosario+Vampire fic. Though I can't say that I'm a terribly big fan of the high school drama/harem romance genre, Rosario+Vampire is a clear exception. It's got cool fights, it's got comedy, it's got fan service, it's got hot girls, and it's filled to bursting with supernatural creatures. My cup o' tea, and Moka certainly kicks Edward Cullen's butt, and Tsukune's no Bella. But, anywho...

This takes place....ummm...not really sure about the timeline, since I haven't read much of Part 2 yet, but I like to stick with the canon. I do know that this follows the manga, and NOT THE ANIME! The anime...it's, well, it's not Rosario+Vampire to me. It's more like....Overabundunce-of-Fan-Service-Con, with Rosario+Vampire characters and general plotlines. (Yes, there is such a thing as too much fan service, ya pervs)

Kon (from Bleach)- *cough* Hypocrite! *cough*

Shut up! Anyway, you're probably getting bored now, so I'll just get on with it...

King Arthur's Army from Monty Python and the Holy Grail- GET ON WITH IT!!

Ahem, anyway, yeah. You have all the relevant information sans spoilers (and plenty of irrelevant information), so I'll just get started now.

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Rosario+Vampire in any way, shape, or form, etc. etc.

**Rosario+Vampire**

"**Dragon and Vampire"**

**Prologue**

"…And so I ask you once again my brothers: Why should we- the monsters- be forced to skulk about in the shadows while the human vermin continue to multiply like the cockroaches they are, destroying everything in sight?"

The gathered crowd shouted their approval once more, then their voices died down a moment later so that the speaker, the sasquatch Nathan Bellanger, could continue his oration.

"But try as we might to fight back, those fools, the Hell Kings, continue to preach coexistence and fill our children's heads with trash about human superiority and about how we have to live in peace with them! This is blasphemy of the worst kind! even if you aren't particularly religious! We are monsters, it's in our blood: The urge to fight for survival. And since the dawn of time, we have had one single foe that we have fought with over and over and over: MAN!"

The crowd cheered again.

"So, what are the Hell Kings up to with this, you ask? Well now, that's a good question. Some- the bleeding heart boot lickers- say that the Kings are foresighted, and that they are doing this in order to protect us. Others- the idealistic and the naïve- say that they have the Monster Race's best interests at heart, but that they don't know how else to go about it yet, or that they're just waiting for the opportune moment to strike back. The clearer headed say that they're just a bunch of old fools who've forgotten what it means to be a monster.

"But here's what I say: I say that they've made a pact with the humans! I say- no- I KNOW that in exchange for wealth and power amongst the human elite, the Hell Kings will keep the rest of us down so that we can't rise up with our superior powers and abilities! Just look at how they live and you will see that what I say is true! One of them has a cushy job as the headmaster for the school in Asia, while another one- so I've heard- lives in a big, fancy seashore mansion, while the rest of us must scrape for our survival while living behind the barriers, amidst the humans, or even in the middle of the wilderness! Don't you see!? The Hell King's have betrayed us! We must rise up and…"

The young man decided that this had gone on long enough.

"Excuse me!" a male voice exclaimed as his hand shot up from amongst the crowd. The space around him was quickly emptied as the gathered monsters glared at him furiously, and none more so than sasquatch Bellanger himself. Not only had this youngster dared to interrupt the revolutionary's speech, but he was also in his human form though all the others were in their true form. This would not do at all.

"Sorry about the interruption," the young man went on, ignoring the glares and clearly not at all sorry, "But that thing that you mentioned about blasphemy… How is it blasphemous for us to not drive the humans into a panic that might result in a war that would destroy both sides, after spending five hundred trying to convince them that we don't exist?"

Nathan opened his mouth to bark a retort, but the youngster interrupted him again before he could even get the words out.

"And as for this so-called "conspiracy," do you have any kind of proof whatsoever that this is happening outside of speculation, or is this like those Area 51/U.S. Government Alien Cover Up and Faked Moon Landing things where you just make up stuff because gullible people will listen?"

"Now listen here, you!" the sasquatch roared, "Unlike you, I actually have some pride in being a monster- as evidenced by your clear preference for looking like a disgusting human rather than being in your true shape!"

"So….That's a 'No,' on the evidence thing, I take it?"

Many in the crowd looked like they were prepared to jump on the boy and eat him, but Bellanger shot them all a glance that made it clear that the heretic was his.

"How dare you…," the sasquatch breathed in a low, barely audible growl.

"And back to the blasphemy thing," the boy went on, apparently oblivious to the danger that he was in. "Have you ever even read anything out of the Codex?"

Bellanger blinked and took a step back in surprise, an odd grin forming on his face; while much of the audience laughed aloud.

"The Codex!?" someone laughed, "That dusty old book? Who believes anything out of that anymore?"

"And more to the point, who would even read it?" another guffawed, "It's full of thee's, and thou's, and thine's, and…Hehe, and no one even talks like that anymore. What a snooze!"

"How sad," the boy whispered to himself, looking down at his shoes. "How sad that we've lost so much of ourselves that even our heritage and our history is openly mocked."

"Look, kid," Bellanger said, his anger diminished and at last able to talk past the laughter, "I don't know who filled your head with this junk- personally, I blame the school system- but believe me: You've got it all wrong. Now why don't you run back home and maybe check out our group's website. We've got plenty of information on how the real world-,"

"No, it is you who are mistaken," the boy snapped, matching the bigfoot's previous anger with rage of his own. "You are a fool who refuses to believe in any truth but the one that you find the most suitable; and one of the many fools who throws away his own heritage for the sake of modern thinking. The Hell Kings are right in what they do, and you're just a big, stupid gorilla who likes the sound of his own voice too much!"

The sasquatch's rage returned tenfold, and his body began to visibly tremble with barely suppressed anger. Everyone within twenty feet of the podium moved back as far as the old lumber mill would allow so as not to be caught by Nathan's rage.

"YOU STUPID HUMAN LOVER!" the sasquatch roared with a savage roar, "I'LL PAINT THE WALLS WITH YER GUTS!"

With that, the great monster launched himself off of the stand, his massive fist coming down in a double-fisted hammer blow. A sound like the detonation of a bomb reverberated throughout the building and into the wilderness beyond; causing flocks of birds to scatter so as to momentarily block out the sky, and terrified animals to flee until they could run no more.

The mostly dirt floor of the saw mill was indented with a crater ten feet in diameter, with clouds of sand and old sawdust swirling through the air. But the sasquatch's expression was one neither of triumph nor of pleasure, but rather one of fear; for his arms had completed not even half their intended arc over his body, and he could feel the steel grip which clutched his hands.

"You're a fool, Nathan Bellanger," the boy snarled up at the ape-man who stood at more than two and a half times his own height, "And a dangerous fool, at that. But you were right about one thing at least: We monsters, we're born to fight. But I'm afraid this one's over."

With only the barest amount of effort, the boy took a step back and hurled the sasquatch over his shoulder, as if the bigfoot were no more than a basketball. Nathan gave a baritone squeal as he sailed over the heads of his audience and took out the entire south wall of the mill. Immediately, the decaying building began to collapse, and the gathered monsters fled for their lives out into the wilderness of northern Canada.

When the dust was settled, only two people remained. One was a young man standing amidst the debris, his body coated with a layer of sawdust; and the other was a tall woman with short black hair and elfin ears standing calmly beside a black all-terrain SUV.

"That could have been handled with a good deal more subtlety," the woman observed calmly as the other picked his way through the mess.

"Yeah, I, um, could have handled that a bit better, I guess. But, you know me: Subtlety is overrated."

"Indeed, you do say that; though I disagree," the woman said with a slight laugh. "But you did well. These fools should be too scared to be causing any more trouble for a while now. Plus, we got most of them tagged on their way out, so we should be able to keep better track of them in the future."

"Good," the boy groaned, leaning against the hood of the large car and taking a swig from the water bottle that his companion had offered him.

They sat in silence for a moment before, seemingly out of the blue, the woman asked, "How is your Japanese?"

"Decent, I guess," the boy answered carefully, his voice indicative that he knew what was coming next. "Why?"

"Well, there's a certain someone in Japan that we would like you to keep an eye on, someone that I am given to understand is expected to be very important for the future of our people. This person is a student of the prestigious Asian monster school: Yokai Academy. You will be enrolled at Yokai, remain as a student until your target has graduated, befriend him if you can, and protect him at all costs. Intel indicates that he is prone to more life threatening situations than the average yokai, and that there will likely be even more attempts on his life in the future."

"I see," the boy nodded his understanding as he took another drink. "So, who and what is this guy?"

"His name is Tsukune Aono: A human."

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 1: Midnight Dance

**Author's Note: **Here's me second chapter. Enjoy! And cookies for the first to guess which anime character I am referring to near the end! The clue is in the quote, of course.

**Disclaimer: **Rosario+Vampire is the property of Akihisa Ikeda and his associates.

**Rosario+Vampire**

**Chapter 1: The Midnight Dance**

"Morning everyo-,"

"GOOD MORNING, TSUKUNE!"

Goosh!

"Kurumu! Get off of him!"

"Mmm-mmmm…mm…!! [Translation: Can't breath…boobs…!!]"

It had started out as another typical morning at Yokai Academy. My usual greeting of the man destined father my children and become my lifelong lover did little but cause my friends to freak out (seriously, when are they going to figure out that I'm going to do that!?) and cause my above-mentioned future husband to nearly pass out from boob-induced oxygen deprivation. One may ask why I do this though it only causes Tsukune to suffocate, and the answer is that it is my people's way of showing extreme affection towards someone- primarily sexual affection, I'll admit, but love and lust aren't too far apart, right?…That, and I'd read in an issue of 'Seductress Monthly' that when a man passes out from being squeezed between a monster woman's bosom he'll dream of that woman's breasts, which is one of the first steps to love…Or something like that. And it's in a magazine, so you know it's true and scientific. Hey! Don't judge me!

Anyway, I had just been cracked over the head by one of Yukari's wash tubs (seriously, where the heck do those things come from!?) while being pulled off of Tsukune by Moka when Ms. Nekonome wandered out of the bathroom to our left and found us five standing out in the hall.

"Oh! Hello everyone! Fancy meeting you all out here!"

"Um, yeah, what a coincidence that she should meet us- her own students- in the hall on our way to homeroom," I muttered to myself as everyone else and I bowed and said good morning. Yukari shushed me with one of an amused-but-nervous smile.

Luckily, our half-cat teacher didn't seem to hear me, as she continued on obliviously, "Oh, Tsukune, I've actually been looking for you. Gin called me last night to say that he was feeling a bit under the weather…"

"*Cough* chasing girls *Cough* is a pervert *Cough*" Yukari fake coughed. I shushed her back, though I couldn't help but giggle.

"…And so I'm putting you in charge of writing up our remainder article on the upcoming Midnight Dance for next Monday's issue. I'm sure you can handle it!"

"D-Dance!?" all of us but Mizore (who was pretending to hide behind a pillar- honestly, why does she even bother!?) yelped.

"Oh? Haven't you seen the post…ers," Ms. Nekonome's voice trailed off as she looked around the hallway and saw that they were bare of any such posters.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot! I was selected to put the posters up for the dance over the weekend, and I totally forgot! Whoopsie! See, there was a sale on fish at a pet store near one of the school's entrance portals, and Mr. Bus-Driver offered to…"

"She'd forget her own brain if it wasn't in her head," I whispered to myself with a grin.

"But she does regardless if there's some yummy fish involved," Yukari whispered back. Then we giggled and shushed each other, only for Mizore to shush us in her own particular fashion.

"Um, Ms. Nekonome? You said something about a dance?" Moka inquired, trying politely to interrupt our sensei's rambling.

"Hm? Oh! Yes! Three weeks from now, we're hosting our first Midnight Dance! It'll be so much fun! Music, dancing, food! It'll be wonderful! I hear that the headmaster has even hired a very popular monster band to provide the music!"

"Oooh! What's the occasion?" I asked, having broken free of mine and Yukari's ice prison.

"Why, the school's five hundredth birthday, of course," Ms. Nekonome replied, "Or is it the 495th? I can never quite remember. Oh, well. You get the point, yes?"

"Oooh! How romantic!" I sighed. I turned towards Tsukune, only to see that he and Moka were already making googily eyes, and that floozy vampire already had his hand locked in hers. Oh! the injustice! I flung myself onto my precious Tsukune- his back turned to me- and wrapped my arms tight about his throat, making sure to give him a good nuzzle with my girls.

"I'm sure that we'll be going together, won't we Tsukune?" I declared, enjoying how he started to blush and stammer in that adorable manner that he always does.

"Please, bazooka girl," our favorite stalker girl snorted, latching on to Tsukune's other arm. "Naturally, Tsukune would much rather go with me, isn't that right?"

"Um, uh, um…,"

Just then Yukari joined the fray, somehow latching onto both Tsukune AND Moka while shouting, "Poo! As if any of you leeches would stand a chance! It is inevitable that Tsukune and Moka will be attending _me_ to the Midnight Dance, fools!"

With that we all started tugging on him, everyone- except maybe Moka (oh, yes, and of course me, naturally; I always listen when my Tsukune talks)- seeming to be unaware of our human's pleas for us to let go. I would have; really, I would, but I was, um, too busy trying to pull him away from the arm-rippers Moka/Yukari and Mizore. Ms. Nekonome just looked on with one of those half-annoyed, half-resigned looks that still managed to make her look clueless.

At some point- I'm still not quite sure what happened, I think I might have been the one to (lierally) tip the scales- we all fell over in a heap, with Tsukune and everyone else on top of me. Mind you, I wouldn't have minded so much if it had just been me and Tsukune (granted, I would have preferred him to be facing me at the time), but Mizore, Yukari, and Moka's weight, combined with Tsukune's own, were crushing the life out of me. And it didn't help matters that I concussed myself a bit when I hit the floor.

"Fajfoa;o'jeif-fasoofnl," my painfully disoriented brain told me Ms. Nekonome had said, though I think what she really said was, "Um, I'll see you back at class. See you later!" or maybe it was, "I'm gonna go eat some fish now," or something.

Anyway, I woke up a few minutes later with Tsukune (sigh) and Moka on either side of me, dragging me to class, one of Yukari's herbal witch's sutures wrapped around my head along with an ice pack (provided by, guess who?). That's what I love about my friends. No matter how much we bicker and argue amongst each other, we always pitch in to help out if one of us gets injured (provided that it doesn't interfere with snagging Tsukune of course).

Much of the rest of the day was uneventful. Around lunchtime I started to see posters for the Midnight Dance here and there on the walls, and from then on there were guys and girls gathering up to ask one another out all over the place. I, of course, received my usual share of suitors, and I, of course, sent all of them packing. Naturally, there were some who would send death glares towards Tsukune whenever he happened to be around, but that's the way life works, chumps. My heart belongs with someone else, now beat it!

It wasn't until late in the afternoon when nearly all of our classes had been complete that the depression hit. I don't know where it came from. I'd just sat down for practical magic studies- last class of the day for me- when I was suddenly hit with a feeling of dejection. No idea where it came from, just totally out of the blue…

No, actually, I take that back. I had a fairly good idea where it had come from, but what had triggered it was the real mystery. Maybe it was the constant parade of boys all afternoon long without the subject being broached eve once by the one boy that I really wanted to ask me out. Maybe it was the fact that there were far less boys asking Moka out (about one quarter less, I'd reckon) than usual whenever we were together. Maybe it was that the three of us (four if you count Yukari, but I really don't) were hanging on to and pressuring Tsukune all day long without any of us making any sort of headway in anything besides nearly killing Tsukune and/or ripping his limbs off by mistake. Or maybe it was just that whenever I'd try to catch my beloved's eye, half the time he would be looking at Moka! Or perhaps it was a combination of all of these?

Whatever the reason, I just sank down into my chair with tears threatening to spill out and my spirits about as low as the scum between a slug monster's toes. Now there's a disgusting thought. Mizore asked me what was wrong, but I just wiped the tears away and said it was nothing, just a little dirt in my eyes. She clearly didn't look convinced, but I didn't care.

At any rate, I did my best to hide my sulkiness throughout newspaper club (Gin dropped by for about five minutes to make sure that we weren't too far behind then left. Ass hole), and I thought I had even gotten away with it, but Tsukune and Moka separately tried to talk to me (one after the other) as we started to head back to our dorms. It was all the usual stuff, "Are you okay? What's wrong?" All that. To Moka I simply said that I was just feeling a bit under the weather and left it at that. For my Tsukune, however, I was a bit more straightforward.

"I dunno," I said, "I'm just feeling a bit, well, depressed."

"About what?"

"Don't you know? About that dance!" Clearly the pressure had gotten to me by this point and I had snapped. "Boys have been bugging me all day about it, but you're the only that I want to be asked by! I know that everyone else in our group's been bugging you about it too, and I know that it's just a silly school dance and all, but Tsukune…I really…That is…," I knew I was getting worked up, and I was trying my best to get back under control, but it was difficult, to say the least.

"What I mean, Tsukune," I said when I finally had control of myself, "Is that lately, I've been feeling more and more like I don't have a chance with you, like it's inevitable that you're going to be with Moka in the end. And I know that you really like her and all, but why don't you ever give me any attention except when I'm in some kind of trouble? I know that you do the same thing with Mizore and Yukari too, and I want to know why you keep stringing us along like this! If you're indecisive, that's fine, but just give us a little attention once in a while to show us that there's hope! Just show ME a little affection instead of giving it all to MOKA!"

"K-Kurumu, I- I don't know what to say…," Tsukune stammered, apparently a bit shocked.

"Say that you'll take me to the dance?" I offered, marauding his personal space with my oh-so pretty face and wonderful bust. No, the waterworks that you surely knew were going on a second ago weren't fake, it's just that you've got to appear calm and confident when you go in for the kill. Says so in 'Seductress Monthly.'

"Well…I…uh…," Tsukune stammered again. I guess in hindsight I should have realized what was really going through his head when he didn't say "Yes," right away, but optimistic is my default setting. Plus, I was trying my best to force him to say it through my looks without actually resorting to Allure.

Whatever he was going to say, I found myself in a puddle of my own blood with an ice shuriken lodged in my skull a moment later and could hear Tsukune yelling at Mizore about lobbing stuff like that around at people through the painful throbbing (did you know that a projectile weapon that's been lodged in the occipital lobe sounds exactly like 100,000 bass drums being played over a loud speaker?) And, of course, all Miss Ice Princess had to say about it was, "Sorry, was aiming for her thigh. Bad habits, ya know?" Hmph! Some friend!

I was on my way to my dorm from the infirmary when a sickly, slimy voice called out to me, "Hey! Kurumu!"

I turned and blanched, throwing in a little "Ugh! What are YOU still doing in this school!?"

He was about my age, maybe less than a centimeter shorter than me, with beady little eyes, a really dorky haircut, and was perspiring nonstop. A camera was around his neck.

"Ah! So you remember me!" Nagare Kano wheezed happily.

"How could I ever forget about you, you disgusting little pervert! And again, how come you're still here!? Didn't you get expelled or something!?"

Nagare was a slug monster who had once tried to blackmail me into "dating him" (in truth, me fulfilling visual sexual fantasies for his viewing pleasure, the creep) by threatening to spread, um, provocative photos of me all over the school, and had even gone so far as to steal our half-completed school paper in order to hold me hostage. I put a stop to that, though.

"I did, and got twenty-five stitches for what you did to me!" you laughed unrepentantly, "Wanna see?"

"NO!!!"

"Well, anyway, the headmaster let me back in, starting over as a first year, but only if I promise to behave myself. And to keep my camera pointed away from all girls."

I pointed at the black box hanging from his sweaty, nasty neck.

"What? Oh! This? Oh, I, uh, heheh, don't worry about this, Kurumu! I'm not into that stuff anymore! You sure taught me my lesson! I'm into, um, landscape photos now! Yeah, landscapes!"

I cocked an unbelieving eyebrow until he put the lens cap on and turned the camera around so that it was no longer pointing at me. Then I continued to stare him down a bit more for good measure. I'd say "Just to make him sweat," but, yeah, he kinda can't help but do that. Anway…

"So, Kurumu," he asked in what he apparently thought was a sly voice, "Do you have any plans for-,"

"Don't," I interrupted him. "Not another word. I know what you're going to ask, and the answer is No!"

"Ah, come on!" he urged, taking a step forward. I stepped backwards. Not that I'm afraid of him (quite the opposite, actually), but because I don't want to get any of his nasty slime on me. "I know every other guy in the school's asked you out at least once! Some more than once! You told them all no!"

"You're still stalking me, aren't you; you disgusting cretin!?!" I screeched, taking a step forward and extending my claws.

He stepped back several paces and stammered, "No! No! It was just an educated guess, I swear!"

Then, just because he's a spiteful little puss bucket, he added, "Well, I'm sure not every boy has asked. Not Tsukune, I bet."

That stung, and he knew it.

"Shut up!" I yelled.

"Oh-ho!" he laughed. "Right on the money, was I? Well, it's really no surprise. Everyone in school knows that he's in love with Moka! Can't understand why, but he does, and everyone but him, her, you, and that hot ice hooker that's been hanging around you guys knows it!"

"Don't you dare call Mizore an ice hooker!" I shouted, now thoroughly pissed off. "And Tsukune is NOT in love with Moka! He's in love with me! Or…," and here my voice faltered, "Or he will be, someday. He's just confused right now, but I know that he'll come around-,"

"Keep dreaming!" Nagare laughed. "You're not ever going to get him, and you know i-,"

I didn't let him finish. Before he could even end his sentence I was in his face, grabbing his hair with one hand, yanking off his camera with the other, and with my first hand tossed him over my shoulder and through a window. Nagare gave a satisfying scream before he hit the ground with an even more satisfying _splat_. I knew I hadn't killed him- being both a literal and figurative slimeball, he's fairly proof against blunt force trauma to a degree- but I also knew that he'd be in a lot of pain for a few days. Then, just because it made me feel good, I chucked his stupid camera through another window on the opposite side of the wall.

Then I realized that my hands were all nasty and sticky from having touched a part of his body- even if it was just his hair- and so I continued back down the hall rubbing my fingers and palms against the wall muttering, "Ew, ew, ew, ew…!"

+++ Later that night +++

I made it through dinner before my beaten-up-Nagare-induced good mood ran out. Then my mind wandered back to Tsukune, and of how it was starting to seem more and more likely that I'd never make it with him as time passed. '_If he won't even invite me to a stupid dance,'_ I remember thinking more than once, _'And if he hasn't noticed me romantically by now, then what chance will I ever have with him?'_ I spent an hour crying in the shower, spent another half-hour trying to take my mind off of it by attempting to puzzle through my homework (yes, I was in that crappy of a mood), then said "Screw it," and went to bed.

It was a long time before I finally drifted off to sleep, but I couldn't stay asleep. I awoke from a particularly horrid dream: One in which Tsukune married Moka, Kokoa, Yukari, Mizore, Mizore's mother, _and_ Ms. Nekonome- who was also married to the world's greatest professional fisherman (who happened to be Gin (don't act like you've never had really weird dreams before!))- while I was frozen naked by Mizore so that Nagare could take pictures of me for all of eternity. I sat up in my bed for what seemed like most of the night puffing, panting and shaking in terror- though I remember glancing at my clock at one point and seeing that it was only midnight- then got up to get a glass of water (and to- once again- scrub my hands very thoroughly so as to be sure that I was free of Nagare's slime).

I had just about made it back to my bed when I saw it: A winged, humanoid shadow stretched out upon my bedroom floor, created by the light of the bright full moon and my open curtains.

I gasped and dropped my cup, but my mind gave no thought to the spilled water as I stared out the window at the shadow's origin. Stepping cautiously towards the window, I saw that the creature was facing away from me and staring out across the school grounds, perched atop one of the dead-looking trees that grew near the dorms with his arms crossed like he was some sort of manga action hero. I almost laughed at the pretentious sight, but thought better of it. With all the weirdos that my friends and I have gone up against, who knows what this guy would bring?

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me. Allowing my wings to break free of their hidden pockets beneath my skin- and also extending my claws just in case (I'm not stupid)- I pulled the window open as quietly as I could and stepped out into the cool, night air of perpetual autumn.

"Beautiful night," the stranger said without turning around, in spite of what I thought had been both a silent take off and landing. His voice was strange, foreign; with a mixture of an American and what I think might be have been a Welsh accent. It was calm but without emotion, though I could detect that this wasn't his usual way of speaking. At first glance I thought that he might have been an incubus- the male population of my people-

Fun Fact: Since we are such a promiscuous people, we succubi and incubi are capable of producing children with pretty much any other type of monster- and humans- and almost never produce a monstrel. In other words, any child with at least one succubus or incubus parent will be a succubus or incubus, no matter what the other parent is, with very few exceptions. But then why are we dying out, you ask? Well, because we pretty much have to, um, do it, with someone several times for there to be a conception. And if you know anything about my people, that happens far too rarely for it to be good for our population.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. Well, now that I had a closer look at him, he clearly was not an incubus. His wings were batlike, sure, but they were much wider, bulkier yet more powerful looking, and covered in scales. His tale was far too long, lizard-like, and extended out from his back at a point just above the waistline rather than where the tailbone would be on most other humanoids; and his arms were muscular and covered in black scales. However, the entirety of the rest of his body seemed to be pure human.

'_What is he?'_ I wondered, _'I've never seen or heard of a monster like this in my life!"_

Aloud, I answered haltingly, "Y-yeah. It is, isn't it?"

"What's your name?" the other asked, not unkindly. In fact, it had softened and become gentle, as if he now knew that I meant him no harm, so long as he meant me none.

I don't know why I answered. All I know is that I did. "Kurumu Kurono."

"That's a pretty name," the stranger smiled, turning to face me. I felt my heart speed up a bit at both the compliment and at the sight of him. Though the shadows cast by the moonlight and his longish hair made it difficult to discern his face, it was enough that I could tell that he was good looking. The only article of clothing that he wore was a pair of loose jeans, and I couldn't help but feel excitement at the sight of his lean but strong build.

"W-who are you?" I asked breathlessly, suddenly feeling shy even as I berated myself for such impure thoughts. I was betraying Tsukune just by thinking the way I was, for heaven's sake!

"That's…a secret," he said, holding up a finger and grinning like an anime character that I had seen somewhere but couldn't think of at the moment, "At least for now."

Then as an afterthought he added, "But, if you must know, there's trouble headed for this school, dangerous trouble. Possibly something even worse than that group called Fairy Tale. You have heard of them, yes?"

"Yeah, I helped to fight them," I replied.

"Ah, _that_ Kurumu," he said, grinning like an imp and turning away to look back at the moon. His tail swished back and forth majestically, far suppler than the armored scales would suggest.

"What is that supposed to mean!?" I demanded as I took a step forward along the thick branch, my voice now filled with suspicion. "What do you mean by '_That_ Kurumu!?'"

"Oops," the stranger laughed, turning his head towards me just enough to show off his sheepish smile. "I think I've said too much. My bad."

Up till this point we had been talking in hushed tones so as not to wake anyone else up, but now I was yelling as I raised my claws and moved to get right up in his face.

"Your bad!? You let that slip on purpose you dumbass! What are you up to!?"

"Relax, relax!" he answered, backing up as much as he could and holding up his claws in a surrendering gesture while my own were held up right beneath his chin. "All I meant was that if you are indeed the succubus who helped to bring down Fairy Tale, then you know Tsukune Aono, right?"

He realized that he had said the wrong thing only when my eyes began to blaze and the tips of my nails began to draw beads of blood.

"What do you want with Tsukune, freak?" I growled in a voice that scared even me.

"I-I just meant…," he faltered, then collected himself to say (in a calm voice that even impressed me considering that his life was hanging in the balance), "Take good care of him, and keep him safe. Much danger will soon befall him- even more so than what he's probably already used to. Make sure that he stays alive, no matter what."

"You bet yer ass I will," I growled.

"Glad to hear it," he said, gently pushing my claws away from himself so that he could lean forward and kiss me on the cheek. I blushed in spite of myself, then angrily slashed the air where he had been standing a moment before.

"See ya later, beautiful," he laughed, gracefully falling backwards from the tree while giving me a two fingered salute and a wink. Then he opened his wings to their fullest to catch the breeze and flapped mightily with them. Within moments he had disappeared into the black horizon.

**To Be Continued…**

**Author's Reminder: **Please remember to post, whether anonymously or not. Even if you favorite me or the story, or subscribe to it, or whatever, it's hard to feel appreciated for your work if you don't get comments from your fan base, yes? So please do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and please post a reply of some kind. Domo arigato in advance. ^_^


	3. Chapter 2: The Stereotypical New Student

**Author's Note: **Enjoy! Please Read and Review!

**Disclaimer: **Rosario+Vampire is the property of Akihisa Ikeda and his associates.

**Rosario+Vampire**

**Chapter 2: The Stereotypical New Student Episode**

"Morning, Kurumu!"

"Mornin', Moka," I mumbled unenthusiastically, throwing in a tired yawn for good measure.

My vampiric friend's face was filled with nothing but concern as she looked me over.

"You look awful, Kurumu!" my pink haired rival observed, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Just couldn't sleep, that's all," I answered, trying to laugh it off. I knew that I had to look like crap at the moment, with big black bags under my eyes and my lovely blue hair an unsightly mess. Had I not been sleep deprived, weirded out by last night's events, and- let's face it- still upset about yesterday, I probably wouldn't even have left my room for how awful I looked Nothing beats vanity like self-pity, I guess. "Had a weird dream is all."

"Oh? What about?" Moka asked as we walked.

"Just…something dumb," I yawned (though I had tried very hard not to), "I was reading some corny action-romance manga before I went to bed, so um, uh…"

"So, you dreamed about a manga?"

"Yep!" I laughed, "Silly, right?"

"Must have been a really exciting dream," she said, her tone revealing a touch of being uncomfortable, which of course implied…

"Why do you automatically think that I was dreaming about sex!?" I snapped with sudden, tired anger, "And even if I was- which I wasn't- what gives you the right to be so judgmental, huh? Everyone does it!"

"I-I didn't say anything about s-about that!" she stammered, quite flustered and more than a bit embarrassed. "K-kurumu, are you sure you're feeling alright?" I felt bad, so I removed the harshness from my voice when I spoke next.

"Me? Sure, I'm fine! Never been better, I…," and without warning, my body lost all energy and I fell over face-first into the ground.

"KURUMU!??"

* * *

"Hey, Moka! Goo-, uh, what's wrong with Kurumu?" asked Tsukune Aono, sole human student of Yokai Academy, as he entered into the clearing; accompanied by the tiny witch Yukari Sendo

"I-I don't know! She was acting really weird, then she fell over! I have no idea what's going on!"

"Hmm," Yukari hmmed, bending over the busty girl's prone form to examine her pulse. "Well, she's not dead. Probably fainted, or…," She paused to listen for a moment, having heard soft snores. "…Or she's asleep. My hypothesis falls towards the latter."

"She did look awful tired," Moka reported, "Huge bags under her eyes."

"Well," said Yukari, flipping Kurumu over and pulling the succubus' eye lids open for a moment, "Off hand, I'd say- oh! I have an idea!" Digging into her school bag, the young witch extracted a thick, black permanent marker. "I have an idea for a fun game we could play!"

"Yukari…," Tsukune groaned.

Just then, a small red haired female wielding an enormous, bat-like battle axe leapt out of the foliage. "MOKAAAAAA!! FIGHT MEEEEEE!!"

"NO, KOKOA! NOT NOW!!" Tsukune screamed, instinctively jumping in front of Moka.

There was no need, however, because a moment later the small vampire crashed into the ground, trapped within a thick block of ice.

"Mizore!!" Moka cried.

"Don't complain," the ice maiden in question retorted, hanging upside down from the tree that she had been hiding in like some oversized, lavender haired bat. "It's not like she was going to stop. I did you favor."

"But surely there was a better way to stop her!"

"Not my problem."

"How is it not-?"

"Um, guys, we really should be getting to class," Tsukune interrupted, looking up from his watch, "And we should probably get Kurumu to th-,"

"MORNING TSUKUNE!!" the succubus cried with her usual vigor, having awoken to find her beloved standing over her. The lucky-but-luckless human soon found himself on the ground whilst being smothered by size G breasts, while shapely but still hard knees dug into his own chest.

"Well she perked right up," Mizore Shirayuki droned, forming an ice kunai in her hand. "Too bad she won't be that way for long."

"Phooey," Yukari sulked, shoving her marker back into her bag.

Moka just looked on with her usual meek irritation, while Kokoa and her bat familiar Kou remained forgotten inside their ice prison.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, my friends and I were gathered in homeroom with the rest of our classmates, waiting for Ms. Nekonome who was late, again.

"Are you alright from yesterday, Kurumu?" Tsukune asked.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I fibbed, deciding on the spot that it was done and over with and that there was no point in brooding. It would only sap my confidence for when I would inevitably swoop in to snatch Tsukune for myself by the time of the Midnight Dance. This I had promised myself I would do.

"But-,"

"I ran into Nagare, yesterday," I declared to the others in order to change the subject. We were all gathered around Tsukune's desk while we waited for our teacher to show up. "When I was heading back to my dorm after _someone_ nearly killed me with a throwing star made out of ice." I flashed Mizore a dirty look. She, of course, had the nerve to grin smugly at me at this accusation.

"Who?" Yukari asked, confusion written on her young face.

"Don't you remember?" I asked, momentarily forgetting that Yukari had never actually met Nagare before. "He's that nasty slug-perv who tried to black mail me during our first year together. It was right before that thing with the school police."

"Oh, him," Moka shuddered, thinking back to her and Tsukune's brief encounter with the disgusting slime creature.

"Don't worry about it, though," I said, quite pleased with myself, "I threw that creep out the nearest window before he even had the chance to- zzzzzzzz….," To my embarrassment, I had dropped off without warning again.

"Again!? What's wrong with her?" Tsukune asked worriedly, much to my delight.

Alright, so I hadn't exactly fallen asleep. I had actually just been hit with a sudden wave of fatigue, and I lacked both the energy and the motivation to move. Unless Tsukune tried to wake me, of course. As for the snoring, well, I don't snore (NO! I DON'T!), but perhaps it was from my nose being squashed against Tsukune's desk while half-asleep…or something. Stop looking at me like that! I DON'T snore!

"You mean besides the usual things, right?" Mizore asked in response to Tsukune's rhetorical query. I hate that girl so much sometimes.

"That's just mean," Moka tried to scold her while holding back a giggle. And Moka too, sometimes.

A soft pop came from Yukari's direction, and the strong scent of marker drifted by to offend my delicate nostrils. A sense of dread washed over my half-conscious consciousness at this point.

"Good mo-orning, class!" Ms. Nekonome sang, pouncing into the class room with all the energy of a litter of kittens.

"Good morning, sensei," everyone but the snoozing me bowed.

"Everyone, I am pleased to be making a very important announcement today," the cat-lady mewed, quickly sketching out a series of drawings on the chalkboard. Of course, I couldn't see said drawings, but I could certainly hear them being scratched out. "As you all know, there are numerous monster schools hidden all over the world. Some, like our own Yokai Academy, are hidden behind space-warping barriers that shield them from humans, while others are deep underground or hidden in remote locations that humans rarely travel to."

By now she had completed her chalk sketch (the scraping of chalk against board had stopped, of course), and I saw later that it had consisted of two rectangles- one labeled "Yokai Academy," and the other "Other Monster School"- a collection of stick figures, and two arrows that went from one rectangle to the other.

"And, of course, in order to better spread ideas and unity amongst the citizens of the monster world- i.e. us- many of these schools have a foreign exchange student program," Our ditsy blond teacher tapped her drawing vigorously with her pointer stick as she spoke. "Though it's true that the program is not initiated as often as many of us would like, students ARE still transferred on occasion- especially in Europe I'm told. But, as you've no doubt guessed by now, we have just received our own transfer student who will be staying with us until the end of the school year!"

At Ms. Nekonome's signal, the door slid open, and the new student in question walked in.

By now I had begun to recover my strength and so I slowly began to sit up in my chair- Tsukune and Moka had placed me back into my own seat after the teacher had come in- and opened my eyes.

"Everyone, I would like for you to welcome Josh Draig of the Black Hills Monster Academy!"

The boy who entered was of average height, lanky build, and had longish black hair. A pair of glasses was set over gray eyes, and his overall appearance was that of an ordinary high school-age teenager. And yet…

Even though it had been the dead of night when my encounter with the stranger last night; with the light of the moon and my succubus night vision I had easily been able to discern his features. Thus, it was impossible for me not to recognize the one who stood before me and the rest of the class now.

"YOU!" I shouted, jumping out of my seat and slapping my hands against the desk so hard that it cracked. Everyone in the classroom, the new boy included, jumped back and away from me as if I was some sort of crazed animal. Hmph! "IT'S YOU! YOU'RE THAT GUY FROM LAST NIGHT!!"

A heavy stillness filled the room as everyone stared either at me or at the black haired new boy, and in many cases turning back and forth to look at the both of us.

'_Wha!t?_' I wondered.

Then the whispers began.

"I guess she's finally given up on Tsukune," some girl a row ahead of me whispered a bit too loudly to a friend. I stared in shock.

"It's about time, but still…," the friend replied, "Sure, he's kinda cute, but he's not really all that handsome either. Kinda weird for a succubus."

"Yeah, but Tsukune's never been particularly handsome either," a third girl added, "Well, I guess succubi aren't typically very picky about their men, aren't they?"

Both me and the new boy Josh flinched at the stinging criticism. How rude! Do you people have no shame? And in voices that you surely must realize I can hear! What is wrong with people these days!?

I was about to open my mouth to reply, but the sound of ice sliding over wood caught my attention. Looking down, I saw that tendrils of ice had crawled over my desk to form the message:

_Thanks for being the bigger woman, Kurumu! We'll take good care of Tsukune! – M & Y_

Next to each letter signature was a chibi-faced caricature of their owners.

My mood now quite bitter, I looked to my left to see Mizore and Yukari grinning happily and waving. I displayed my displeasure at them with a rude hand gesture.

"Um, I'm sorry miss," the transfer student finally said to me, adjusting his glasses, "But I've never seen you before in my life."

I couldn't help but fall over in a heap of annoyance and barely suppressed anger at this outrageous claim of ignorance. My classmates bawled with laughter. Ingrates!

"So…, tell us about yourself Josh," Ms. Nekonome said, trying to redirect the topic of conversation to what I guess she had originally intended for it to be. "Am I pronouncing that correctly?"

"Yes," the "Ooh! I'm Too Tool To Acknowledge You!" Creep nodded, "My name is Josh Draig, I am seventeen years old, and my cat's water has just broke…,"

We all stared speechlessly at this extremely weird and oh-so-casually spoken remark.

His cheeks began to turn red and suddenly became quite nervous and fidgety, as if he had just realized that he had said something really weird. "Damn internet language courses," I was barely able to hear him mutter to himself in English before trying again.

I grinned and laughed to myself. Serves him right.

"Um, sorry. That came out wrong. My Japanese is evidently not as good as I thought it was. I'm seventeen…," he stopped to think very carefully about what he was trying to say before carrying on haltingly. "And…it…is…my…pleasure…to…be…here…"

"Would you prefer to speak in English?" Shizuka asked, apparently feeling a bit disturbed by the cat-involved language screw-up of a moment ago. "I do believe that everyone here has passed their courses in the English language."

Um….

"No, no! It's fine! Really! I just got a little over confident is all, hehe." His face was still beet red as he turned back to the class and cleared his throat. "My hobbies include swimming, martial arts, and reading; my blood type is B, and I'm a Virgin, er, Virgo, sorry."

Scattered giggles spread throughout the class as the foreign student's face turned even redder than before.

I chuckled evilly to myself at the foreign-jerk's distress.

"Thank you very much for that insightful information, Josh," Ms. Nekonome beamed hopefully, "Will you please take a seat?"

"Thanks for the bacon, whoops, thank you for having me, sensei," the American monster bowed and did as told. Apparently he was still feeling quite stuck up even after that royal screw-up, because he just casually plopped himself in the seat directly in front of my own. I made sure that he knew that I was still mad, because I immediately began to bore into the back of his head with a badass-burning gaze. Immediately he began to squirm and shoot scared looks back at me, and this pleased me to no end.

Who needs the power to shoot heat rays out of your eyes when you can just make someone think you are with an illusion? I can prolong it as long as I want, and not be in any danger of getting in trouble. I'm so marvelous! ^_^

* * *

During lunch hour, Josh Draig was making his way back to his dorm room with hopes of better acquainting himself with the Japanese language. He was halfway through the forest of dead trees that separated the school proper from the dorms when he heard a voice call out to him from above.

"Think you're pretty funny making me look stupid in front of my class, dontcha?" an angry female voice called. Draig didn't even need to look up to know who it was; especially since the speaker jumped down from the treetops a moment later to land gracefully before him.

"I apologize for making you look the fool-," he began to say, but before he knew it the blue haired succubus' face was inches from his own, and her surprisingly powerful fingers were wrapped tightly about his neck.

"How dare you show up in front my room looking all cool last night, cause me to think brief but vile thoughts that made me betray my precious Tsukune, then show up at my school the next day and pretend like we've never met before," she cried out, violently shaking the other back and forth whilst trying to strangle him. "HOW DARE YOU!?!?"

"Ku-ru-mu! Stop!" the suffocating student gasped through the strangling, "I'm sor-ry! Let me ex-plain!"

Reluctantly, the succubus relented. Coughing horribly and without thinking, Josh attempted to double over to better catch his breath, but accidently found himself face-first in one of the too-close Kurumu's favorite body parts.

"PERVERT!" she screamed, slapping the foreigner with all her might.

"I hate my life," Josh whined to himself in English, lying prone on his back with a hand-shaped red mark tattooed on his cheek.

"Well that's what you get for being a dirty little pervert!" Kurumu huffed unrepentantly. "Now, what the hell's going on?"

"Did you break my glasses?" Josh continued to complain, ignoring Kurumu while removing said spectacles to examine the left temple arm.

"I'M TALKING TO YOU!" the succubus shouted, throwing another punch; but much to her surprise, the foreign student caught her fist this time, without even looking up from examining his glasses.

"I heard you," he said, looking up into her violet eyes with a stern seriousness that caused Kurumu to rethink her violent outbursts, if only for a moment.

"So just who are you?" she asked once she had taken her fist back, "And what are you doing here?"

"As I and Ms. Nekonome said," the mysterious transfer student responded, replacing his glasses and brushing himself off as he stood back up, "My name is Josh Draig, born in Wales, grew up in the United States where I attended the Black Hills Monster Academy for three years before transferring to Yokai Academy for the foreign exchange student program. As for what I'm doing here, I'm attempting to complete my education." Then, off-handedly but spoken quickly so as to almost be indiscernible, he said, "Oh, and I'm trying to save the world from a massive monster-human war."

"Come again? Kurumu asked, stunned by the odd answer.

"I…shouldn't be telling you this," the strange student admitted, looking about to make sure that no one was listening, "But I need all the help that I can get to get through this: There are those who desire to defy the Hell Kings and bring the monster race out into the open, fully aware that such sudden contact will inevitably spark a long and bloody war between us and the humans. The Hell Kings, however, see a chance for a gradual and peaceful unification between the two peoples through a human student, namely one Tsukune Aono, and it's my job to make sure that he doesn't get killed. And you're going to help me."

Kurumu couldn't help it. It was far too ridiculous. She fell over and began to roll all over the dirt-covered path in a hysterical fit of laughter that left Josh rather annoyed.

"HEY! I'M BEING SERIOUS HERE!!"

"Whatever!" the succubus shot back, tears in her eyes and a stitch in both her sides, "I've heard that Americans are all kinda crazy, but you take the cake! That's probably the most ridiculous thing that I've ever heard in, like, ever! Is this some weird kind of flirting?"

"Fine," growled Josh, crossing his arms moodily and staring down at the girl with the greatest annoyance, even as he couldn't help but notice her shapely figure and crystal laugh, "Believe what you want. But you'll at least let me know if you see or hear anything strange or suspicious, yes? Please?"

Kurumu sat up just long enough to come up with a witty reply, but was stopped by a familiar, disgusting laugh.

"What's this Kurumu? So it is true that you've given up on Tsukune, then?"

The succubus spun about, staring in anger at the persistent Nagare; who was being accompanied by an eight foot tall ogre with mottled gray skin, an ugly sneering face, and a smell that could wake the dead.

"What now, Nagare?" Kurumu whined, "And who's this other freak that you have with you?"

The muscle-bound behemoth just gave a caveman-like grunt or growl to display his displeasure at the insult.

"Hey! Be nice to my friends, Kurumu!" the slug-boy sneered, "His name's Gagere, and, like me, he's an emotionally delicate, artistic soul. But, unlike me, he's prone to bouts of violence when you treat him poorly. You'd better be nice!"

"Who's this freak?" Josh asked.

"Just some pervert/stalker; slug monster."

"Ah, figures."

"You know, you hurt me deeply when you threw me out that window, Kurumu," Nagare went on, "But it hurt even more when I heard that you'd tossed Tsukune aside for a foreigner, despite everything that we've been through together!"

"You threw him out a window!?"

"Shh!" Kurumu hissed, then yelled at Nagare, "I haven't given up on Tsukune! And why would I _ever_ go out with _you!?"_

"Ah! Don't be like that!" Nagare whined. "We could be friends first, ya know? And Gagere would really like to get to know you too, ain't that right Gagere?"

The ogre nodded its ugly head and grunted, the look in his eyes and the way his tongue lolled out making it quite clear that Gagere was an even bigger pervert than Nagare.

Kurumu convulsed with highly visible disgust.

"Disgusting beasts," Josh muttered to himself, clenching his fists and giving the pair a dangerous glare.

"So then, Kurumu?" Nagare asked gleefully, ignoring Josh. "How should we go about getting to know each other first? Shall we just hang out? Or should we skip right to close, physical intimacy?"

Gagere nodded and grunted enthusiastically at this suggestion.

"Or," the slug boy suggested, large teeth spread out wide in wicked glee, "If you aren't too keen on becoming our friend voluntarily, I guess we could always go and see what Tsukune thinks about it. Nice guy, right? Would be a shamed if something were to happen to him. Even if he does smell like human."

She had been pushed too far this time. It was immediately obvious. Rather than shout or carry on, Kurumu's eyes were narrowed to dangerous slits, and her body was coiled up like some mad predator about to rip its prey to shreds. Her nails and ears were already extended to their fullest, and her wings and tail were sliding out gradually with the intention of intimidation.

"Don't you _ever_ threaten Tsukune again, you twisted bastard." Kurumu's voice was low and deadly. For the first time, Josh realized why succubi were considered by some to be a type of demon. "If you _ever, EVER_ threaten him again, I'll tear your heart out and feed it to you!"

Both Nagare and his ogre companion found themselves recoiling in fear at this pronouncement, but the dedicated pervert soon found his courage (in the presence of his brutish companion) again, and so declared, "Y-you….Oh, now you're threatenin' us now, huh? I think she this little bitch needs to be taught some manners! Take her down, Gagere! And eat the foreigner if he gets in the way!"

The ogre looked down at his handler for a moment in scared confusion, but Nagare countered the giant's fear with one of his last remaining pictures from his and Kurumu's first and only "date." Inspired by the possibilities that the photo inspired to the point that he forgot what he had been scared of, Gagere drew out a thin, black chain from the pocket of his ragged, hide clothing with bore a weight at each end of the chain. He swung the chain wildly for a moment, then hurled one end, intending to ensnare the succubus as if they part of some bizarre cattle-round up.

Kurumu stepped forward self-assuredly, preparing to split the chain with a single swipe of her claws; but before she knew it, a certain foreign exchange student had stepped in front of her, ensnaring the chain about his own arm.

"What do you think you're doing!?" the succubus shouted, both in shock and anger, "Outta the way! I can handle these chumps!"

"Sorry, Kurumu," Josh replied, clearly unrepentant. "But I'm afraid I couldn't help myself. Chivalry, and all that rot."

Kurumu continued to simmer for a moment at the indignity of being rescued by someone other than Tsukune or the Inner Moka- especially when she clearly did not need saving- but came out of said simmering once she had time to register what she was seeing: Gagere pulling on one end of the chain with a good deal of his strength, and Josh, arm still ensnared, not moving an inch!

'_S-such strength!'_ Kurumu could not help but think in admiring awe. _'Only vampires and a few other monsters are so strong! What is this guy anyway!?'_

"Le go!" Gagere snarled as he tugged, the first real words that he had used all day.

"Sorry," Josh replied, as he continued to tug with equal force, using only his captured arm, "But I'm afraid I can't do that. At least not until you learn how to treat a lady!"

Now gripping the chain with both hands, the American student pulled with all his might, dragging his opponent in through the air at great speed. When the ogre was almost upon him, Josh attacked with a single, mighty round house kick that sent the beast flying into the forest…while still connected to Josh via the chain.

"Whoops," he groaned to himself, realizing his mistake a mere half second before he ran out of chain. He screamed as the force of his own kick sent both him and the ogre into the trees.

"That's…embarrassing," Kurumu groaned to herself.

"No kidding," Nagare agreed.

A moment later, the slug boy was regretting having drawn attention to himself.

When Gagere came back some minutes later, dragging an unconscious-via-crash-landing-Josh by the black chain, he found the pretty winged girl standing over Nagare, who was unconscious and bleeding copiously from numerous slash wounds.

"Hey! Dat not nice, what oo did ta Nagare!" the slow-witted ogre roared. "I eat you for that!"

SLICE!

* * *

"Nice nap?" I asked sweetly, looking down upon the prone American at my feet.

"Wha' 'appen?" he groaned in English, which took me a moment to figure out because…; Hey! English is the hardest language in the world to learn, and I'm not the best student! So shut up and leave me alone!

"Well, I think that you flew into a tree at high speed, possibly got your head stepped on by an ogre, then got dragged over rough, forest terrain," I replied matter-of-factly.

"Well that explains the migraine," Josh groaned, slowly sitting back up.

"Could be worse."

"I'd ask how, but…," he began, but I interrupted by leaning into him close, ever so close, cranking up the old seductive charm. As expected, Josh immediately froze as my pheromones and intoxicating body turned his brain to mush.

"It could be worse…" I said in my sexiest voice, leaning in as if to kiss him. Then I extended my claws out right next to his ear with a slight _shing!_ Then completed my statement in my normal voice. "…If you had a succubus torqued off at you for embarrassing her in front of all of her friends and making veiled threats towards the love of her life."

Josh had jumped back at the initial extension of my nails, and he continued to look like a fox-cornered-rabbit even as I completed my statement.

Then I ruined the entire effect by laughing. I couldn't help it, it was just too funny. When I had a hold of myself again, I then said, "But luckily for you, I can forgive. I didn't need your help in the slightest, as you can plainly see," I gestured over towards the beaten forms of Nagare and his ogre, "But I do appreciate the gesture. I won't have it said that Kurumu of the Black Dreams is not grateful.

"And even though I still say that you're crazy for all of that junk earlier about saving the world or whatever, I personally find your brand of crazy far more appealing than theirs." Again, I indicated the two unconscious idiots over to the side.

"Now let's get going," I finished, reveling in how cool I knew I must have seemed at that moment. If only Tsukune had been there to watch! "It's not good for the new student to be late for his classes on the first day."

"Domo arigato," he bowed, a smile on his lips. "Lead the way, oh big breasted one, CRAP! I meant 'Oh, lovely one!'"

"PERVERT!!"

SMACK!!!

**To Be Continued…**

**Author's Reminder: **Please remember to post, whether anonymously or not. Even if you favorite me or the story, or subscribe to it, or whatever, it's hard to feel appreciated for your work if you don't get comments from your fan base, yes? So please do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and please post a reply of some kind. Domo arigato in advance. ^_^


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